The Marauders
by LuckyShadows
Summary: A story about the Marauders while they were at school, mainly centered around Sirius Black, Lily Evans, and Raven Snahl my OC. Mayhaps Mary Sue warning.


The Marauders

Chapter 1

Sirius Black strolled down Diagon Alley looking around the shops with a bored expression on his face. His light blue eyes wandered towards a shop that announced "Olivander's Best Quality Wands". Glancing back at his mother who was distracted his younger brother Regulus, who was furiously pointing towards a new broomstick, Sirius sighed and entered the shop.

There was a small "Ding!" as the door opened and closed. Looking around Sirius noticed that there was already someone in the shop. It was a pretty young black-haired girl that looked about his age. She was looking around the shop with interest; deep blue eyes alight with curiosity. An old man stepped from behind a shelf filled with boxes and regarded her with tired gray eyes. Then his wrinkled face broke into a kind smile.

"Ah, Miss Snahl, I presume?" he asked, sliding his hand along the counter. This girl smiled. "I still remember when your father, and your mother bought their first wands," Mr. Olivander continued, "But of course you live with your grandmother now do you not?" The girl nodded, and Mr. Olivander shook his head sadly, "Tragic death, the death of your parents. Completely caught off guard when that giant crushed their car."

"I remember my parents talked about that," Sirius said suddenly. Mr. Olivander looked at him calmly, nodding for him to continue. "It was in the Daily Prophet."

"Yes, of course it was in the Prophet; a death of such famous wizards were bound to be in the Prophet. Now, you must be Mr. Black?" Sirius nodded. "Very well, kindly wait over there." Mr. Olivander gestured for Sirius to sit on a wooden chair that he hadn't noticed before. Mr. Olivander turned back to Snahl, drumming his fingers on the counter deep in thought. Then he ducked under the counter and pulled out a tape measurer, as Sirius sat down on the chair and made himself comfortable.

"Now, which one's your wand arm?"

"Left," Snahl answered. Mr. Olivander nodded absently as the tape measurer unfurled itself and started measuring her. "Spread your arms out," he told her. As Snahl did just this, he walked behind a shelf and disappeared from sight. He returned a few moments later carrying a couple of small rectangular purple box. "That's enough," he said to the tape measurer, which dropped to the floor. Mr. Olivander took out the wand. "Here try this one, just give at a wave."

Snahl's fingers had barely touched the wand, when Mr. Olivander snatched it out of her hands and shoved another one in her hand. As she gave the new wand a small wave, an empty bottled labeled "Butterbeer" exploded spraying the glass everywhere. Mr. Olivander snatched that one out of her hand as well and shoved another one muttered "No, no, no…"

Snahl waved it, a bewildered expression on her face. Mr. Olivander immediately tore out of her grip. As he put it back in the box, and smiled at her, "Tricky costumer, eh? Not to worry… Not to worry… We'll find your match soon, we will." He went back to the confinements of the large shop, searching for another wand.

Taking this opportunity as a break, Snahl turned around to smile at the stranger, she held out her hand, "Raven Snahl, who are you?" Sirius beamed at her and dropped all four legs of the chair to floor before standing up and walking over to shake her hand.

"Sirius Black. Are you going to Hogwarts?" He asked dropping his hand from her grip.

"Of course. I wouldn't go to Drumstrang if you paid me to. And Beauxbautons is far too prissy for me, and my French isn't that good."

Sirius nodded, "Drumstrang wouldn't be that bad, I just wouldn't want to learn the Dark Arts, or freeze to death for that matter… And yes, Beauxbatons _is_ rather prissy." At this point, Mr. Olivander arrived with a very battered, dusty and over-all old looking box.

"Making acquaintances, are we? Jolly good… jolly good… Here try this one. Very curious combination, but a very powerful wand nonetheless. Rowan, 7 inches long, with a Phoenix feather core. Give it a wave."

As Raven accepted the wand, she felt a strange, eerie sensation. As she waved the wand, blue sparks flew out of the end. Mr. Olivander clapped his hands together. "Yes! Very good! But it is strange though…"

Raven raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "What's strange?" Mr. Olivander gave her a meaningful stare.

"It is strange that, the wand that you are holding right there, has been here a very long time. My father said that supposedly Ravenclaw left it here herself! Take very good care of it." His eyes flickered down for a moment to the silver chain fastened around her neck.

Raven noticed this, but she ignored it, frowning. "You mean this isn't one of your wands?" Mr. Olivander nodded, and took the wand back from her and put it back in the box. Handing the box to her, he said,

"That will be 3 Galleons and 27 Sickles." Money exchanged hands, and Mr. Olivander called "Next!"

As Raven left the shop (with a small "Ding"!), her grandmother rounded the corner from Eowlop's Owl SOMETHING, holding a cage containing a Black-banded Owl. Muttering choice swear words, Raven's grandmother huffed over carrying the heavy cage,

"Why did you have to choose a _black_ owl? Cost a fortune it did!" As Raven leaned down to look at the fierce owl, she smiled warmly,

"Well, it was worth it," she said glancing at her grandmother, "Hello, Shadow," she said to the owl. Her grandmother was consulted a list, and she announced,

"All right, that's everything we need. We'll appara-" she cut off as she glared at something behind Raven. Raven turned around to see an older woman screaming at a disgruntled looking boy, who she recognized as the boy she had met earlier. The older woman was holding a younger boy's hand, who had a broad smirk on his face.

"WHERE, IN THE NAME OF MERLIN, DID YOU GO? I _SPECIFICALLY_ TOLD YOU _NOT_ TO GO ANYWHERE!" With the words 'specifically' and 'not' the Sirius' mother jabbed him in the chest. The younger boy's smirk broadened. "YOU'RE NOT GOING _ANYWHERE_ UNTIL SCHOOL STARTS!" as she screeched at this, by-lookers gave them disgusted looks.

"Like I have anywhere else to go..." Sirius muttered under his breath, as his mother sucked in more breath. Grabbing Sirius' ear, and wrenching it towards her, she screamed into it,

"YOU SHOULD BE GLAD WE HAVEN'T THROWN YOU OUT INTO THE STREET! WE'RE GOING HOME RIGHT NOW!" with a look of absolute pain on his face, Sirius was dragged around the corner by Mrs. Black to disapproving glances, shaking of heads, and mutterings of "child abuse". Then slowly, the talk crescendoed back to its original peak.

As Raven quickly stepped through the hidden barrier to platform 9 and ¾, with her grandmother at her elbow, she let out a sharp gasp of amazement. Her grandmother, noticing this, gave her a sly side-ways glance, "Nice isn't it? Just like that boy you were telling me about earlier." Raven dug her elbow into her grandmother's side and gave her a fierce look. Chortling loudly, her grandmother continued, "You wait 'till you get to Hogwarts. That's some real beauty right there," "Quickly, now!" She ushered Raven forward, "You're going to miss the train!"

Sirius walked down the train, hauling his trunk behind him, glancing every so often into compartments to see if they were empty. Finally, he reached one and recognized one of the girls in there as the one he had met at Olivander's. Grinning to himself, he slid open the glass door, saying, "Hey, Raven," Raven gave him a calm smile,

"Hey, Black," Sirius' grin turned into a grimace.

"Just call me Sirius. Black sounds a tad bit _too_ evil for my taste." As Raven opened her mouth to reply, a girl with long red hair cut her off,

"Hey, _bozo_, this is a girl's compartment only!" she said blushing. Sirius just laughed.

"Don't mean to, ah, _intrude_ on your, er, 'girl time'," he said, smirking and making quotations marks with his fingers at the words 'girl time'.

"Well then, leave!" announced another girl this time, with elegant curly brown hair, whose face was as red as the red-haired girl's hair.

Raven seemed completely unbothered by all this. Giving Sirius a pained look that said "I'll tell you later," she said, "See you at Hogwarts." Sirius closed the compartment door shut behind him and moved along.

As Raven turned back to her new friends with a crafty look in her eye, the curly haired girl let out a gasp of relief.

"Thank god he left! Ohmigosh, I've never been so embarrassed in my whole life!" she said all in one breath.

Raven laughed, "Rachel, he didn't even know we were talking about him."

"In fact, we were lucky to stop your rant about him for long enough before you realized he had even walked in," the girl with the red hair added.

"Lily's right. You're a bit obsessed, Rachel." Raven said, "and you don't even know him either."

The girl called Rachel sighed dreamily, "I know... But he's so handsome," she stared out of the window, clearly in another world. Lily and Raven exchanged looks and Raven hastily began to talk about the different houses.

"So, which house do you think you're gonna be in?" she inquired.

"I don't really know exactly. My parents are Muggles you see, so I don't know a lot about the wizarding world. I was shocked enough when I received my letter telling me that I was accepted," Lily explained.

"I hope I'm either in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. But I'm not that smart so I'm hoping for Gryffindor," Rachel said, still rather absentmindedly.

"OK, Lily. There are four houses at Hogwarts. Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. You are chosen for each house by your different attributes. Hufflepuff is supposedly where all the idiots go. But it's actually where people who are

loyal go. Ravenclaw is for people are smart. Gryffindor is for brave-hearted people."

"Then what's the last one?" Lily asked. Raven's faces darkened.

"That's where full-bloods go," Rachel answered this time, having recovered from her inner fantasy.

"Full-blood? Meaning…"

"You have full wizarding blood. People who are full-blooded think that they are better than half-bloods and Muggle-borns, just because they can trace their full-blood ancestry back to over a hundred years ago," Raven sneered, "Of course, only idiots with huge egos think this. ("Also know as Slytherins," Rachel added under her breath.) Besides, there aren't many full-bloods left. If we hadn't married Muggles, we would have died out."

Lily nodded, "What are you two?" Raven sighed.

"Full-blood. But don't judge me on that before you get to know me. If I get picked for Slytherin, I'm taking the train straight back home."

"I'm half-blood," Rachel added in her yankee accent, "Both my parents are wizards, but my mother's Muggle-born." Raven nodded knowingly,

"Yeah, I thought so. Morgan is full-blood last name." At this point, the door slid open for the second time that day, and a kind-looking old witch in a blue dress asked,

"Anything from the trolley, dears?"

"Sure!" Raven stood up. Noticing Lily's bewildered expression as she stared at the different types of candy, she laughed and added, "We'll explain the types in a moment. We'll have five of each, please. I'm paying," she said to the witch.

Two Galleons, and six Sickles later, there were Liquorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans scattered around the three girls. Lily reached over for a packet of Chocolate Frogs, and opened it. Popping the frog into her mouth, she noticed that there was a card in it.

"Hey, look! I've got a card!" Rachel leaned over to look at it.

"You've got Dumbledore. He's headmaster at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, I know. Open another packet, see what you get." Rachel leaned over and opened a box.

"I've got Circe. Finally! I've been looking for her for ages. Unfortunately my collection's at home. Ah, well. You can have it, Lily. Start collecting!"

"Yes, indeed. Chocolate Frogs. Buy Today. Start your collection today!" Raven proclaimed in a commentary voice. Lily and Rachel laughed.

Quite a few hours later, the sky was pitch-black and rain was pounding on the windows.

"Beautiful. We get to go to Hogwarts in this kind of weather," Lily muttered gloomily, as she squinted at the rain, then twisting around in her seat so that she was facing Rachel and Raven again, she sighed and said, "Let's get changed, we'll be there soon."

As they changed into their robes, a voice came on through the magical intercom system.

"Approaching Hogwarts. Leave all luggage in compartments, they will be taken to the school for you."

A few minutes later, the train gradually started to slow down, and then stopped completely. Nervously, the girls edged towards the door and slid it open. Outside they joined the blabbering group heading outside.

As Raven stepped onto the gravel, she pulled her hood over her head, and heard someone calling,

"Firs' years! Oveh here! Firs' years!" A large and burly looking man with a face almost completely covered by a bushy brown beard was shouting this over the heads of passers-by.

Also pulling her hood up, Rachel motioned to Raven and Lily to follow her, and she quickly jogged over to the large man.

Dripping wet, shivering, and frozen to the bone, the first-years followed Professor McGonagall as they walked in a single file through the huge doors that led into the Great Hall. There were four large tables that ran the length of the hall. As the new students walked forward, they all noticed a patched and dirty looking hat sitting on a stool in front of the staff table.

"Now, when I call your name, you will put on the Sorting Hat, and be sorted into your houses," McGonagall said to the first-years as she unfurled a long scroll. "Aleandor, David!" she called.

A terrified looking small boy with freckles walked forward nervously, put on the Sorting Hat on his head and sat on the stool. A few moments later,

"Ravenclaw!" The second table from the left exploded with cheers and claps.

Four students later, McGonagall cried out,

"Black, Sirius!" Rachel sighed dreamily, and fluttered her eyelashes as Sirius sat down onto the stool. Two minutes passed, until finally,

"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted to the hall. The table on the far right clapped and cheered. They had gotten their first Gryffindor. Grinning to himself, Sirius took off the hat and walked over to that table. Rachel let out another wistful sigh.

The small crowd of first-years slowly started to thin out, until there were only about five individuals left.

"Snahl, Raven!" Raven swallowed, and stepped slowly descended towards the awaiting Sorting Hat. Putting it on to her head (it dropped down over her eyes) and sitting down on the stool, the hat murmured into her ear,

"Ah… difficult… mmh… yes… a full-blood, I see… loyal too… _very_ smart, indeed… oh, and what's this? Descended from Ravenclaw herself, are you? Interesting… very interesting… very brave… you would stand in the face of danger, no matter the cost… stands up for her beliefs very much… now where should I put you?"

Raven's thoughts flickered back to Lily as she was picked for Gryffindor, then to Rachel, as she was chosen for Gryffindor as well, and finally her mind rested on Sirius as he strode down steps from the Sorting Hat.

"Ah, young Black, eh?" the Sorting Hat chuckled, "Very well, then… GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted the last word out for the crowd to hear.

Beaming, Raven took off the hat to see Lily clapping hard, Rachel laughing, and Sirius grinning at her, she felt like the happiest person in the world.

All Characters except for Raven Snahl, and Rachel Morgan are © J.K. Rowling.

Raven Snahl, Rachel Morgan, Raven's grandmother & David Aleandor are © Luci Novak. But not officially.


End file.
